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Saturday, October 24, 2015

An Eye for Credibility

What credibility do they have
those who negotiate with us while subjecting us to their bombs and death
machines? Those who want us to fight an alleged common enemy with whom they do
regular business, and while they themselves are busy fighting only us?

*

Like so many Arabs, I have spent
my entire life hearing arguments about how this side is worse than the other,
why there could be no compromise, why this time is different and this
particular moment is a turning point, only to see reality get ever uglier, and
the goals for which we are supposedly fighting disappear further and further
beyond the horizon.

I have long grown sick and tired
of the lies we tell ourselves, I have grown disgusted with emotional reactions,
no matter how momentary and justified they might be, and I am appalled by the
cynicism that underlies it all.

If we really believe that hate is
destructive then we should avoid hating. If we seriously believe that racism is
wrong, then, we should stop being racist ourselves. If we are truly struggling
for justice than our methods should also be just. And if our enemies are
pushing us into a corner hoping to turn us into monsters, then, our focus
should be on protecting our humanity. What humanity have we left when we
continue to celebrate death, even under the romanticized name of martyrdom and
the “they-started-it” justification?

No, an eye-for-an eye does not
turn the entire world blind. The world has to be blind first, not to mention
mute and dumb, to believe in such a foolish notion.

Go ahead, patronize me!

About Ammar

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian-American author and pro-democracy activist based in Silver Spring, Maryland. He is the founder of the Tharwa Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to democracy promotion. His personal website and entries from his older blogs can be accessed here.

The Delirica

The Delirica is a companion blog to the Daily Digest of Global Delirium meant to highlight certain DDGD items by publishing them as separate posts. Also, the Delirica republishes articles by Ammar that appeared on other sites since 2016. Older articles can be found on Ammar's internet archive: Ammar.World